The Star-News

Red Devils shock Crusaders for 41-14 Metro-Pacific League football win

Fri, Oct 25 2013 10:36 PM Posted By: Phillip Brents

Don't look now but the Sweetwater Red Devils football team could be heading toward a league championship. If so, it would be the first in 25 years for the National City school.

The Red Devils took a major step in that direction Friday after recording a 41-14 victory against two-time defending league champion Mater Dei Catholic in the teams' 2013 Metro-Pacific League opener.

"It was shocking," SuHi head coach Brian Hay admitted. "I didn't expect this kind of output but our kids appear to have finally picked it up and are starting to roll with it."

Sweetwater built a commanding 20-0 halftime lead and tacked on three second-half touchdowns. Quarterback Chris Amon put the Devils on the scoreboard on a three-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. The hosts then went up 10-0 on a 25-yard field goal by Victor Alfaro to cap a lengthy eight-minute drive.

Sweetwater scored again after recording a takeaway on defense. The fumble recovery put the ball at the Crusader 30-yard line and Tony Garcia scored on the next play.

The Devils recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff and capitalized on a 32-yard field goal to end the opening half.

Mater Dei took just 51 seconds to score the opening touchdown of the second half as Marco Morales connected with Iman Chatman-Dixon for a breakaway 96-yard score.

But the Devils countered with another time-consuming drive as James Zarate scored from three yards out to increase the SuHi lead to 28-7.

The hosts weren't finished. Raven Middleton scored on a five-yard run with 9:03 left in the fourth quarter. Score: Devils 34, Crusaders 7.

Chatman-Dixon caught a 17-yard scoring pass with 7:24 to play to cut the visitors' deficit to 34-14.

Sweetwater had the last say, however, as Jose Sandoval closed out game scoring on a short run with 3:45 to play.

Extra pointsIsiah Olave scored on an interception return, breakaway pass-catch and short run to finish with three touchdowns in third-ranked Eastlake's 27-0 Metro-Mesa League victory against Bonita Vista in a game played at Otay Ranch High School. The Titans retain possession of the teams' Battle for the Boot rivalry game trophy.

Stanley Schwing scored on a 25-yard run in overtime to lift the host Montgomery Aztecs to a rousing 28-22 win over Castle Park in the teams' annual Warrior Bowl clash. The match-up also served as the Metro-Pacific League opener for both teams.